Toy airplane



Patented May 3, 1949 TOY AIRPLANE Edmund W. Baggott, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Ideal Novelty & Toy 00., Hollis, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application November 13, 1946, Serial No. 709,476

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a toy airplane and, more particularly, to a toy airplane of the helicopter type.

It is an object of the invention to provide a toy helicopter having a pair of coaxial propellers located above the fuselage thereof and so arranged as to rotate in opposite directions in parallel horizontal planes.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a toy helicopter provided with a pair of coaxial propellers adapted to rotate horizontally and in opposite directions and further provided with an additional propeller either at the front or rear of the fuselage adapted to rotate in a vertical plane simultaneously with the rotation of the first-mentioned pair of coaxial propellers.

It is another object of the invention to provide a toy airplane of the character indicated which can be fabricated easily and cheaply and which will be durable and attractive in appearance.

The above objects as well as additional objects and advantages will be readily apparent in the course of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention, and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a central vertical longitudinal sectional view of a toy helicopter embodying the features of the invention and illustrating the interrelationship between the propellers and their respective rotary elements;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary bottom plan view partially broken away to illustrate the engagement between the beveled driver element fixed to the undercarriage axle and the rotary horizontal follower element fixed to the shaft of the topmost, horizontally rotating propeller;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view illustrating the engagement between the rotary vertical element fixed to the shaft of the vertically rotating ropeller and the lower rotary horizontal follower element fixed to the shaft of the uppermost horizontally rotating propeller;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary detail clearly illustrating the engagement between the vertical rotary element of the vertically rotating propeller and the horizontal rotary element of the topmost, horizontally rotating propeller.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the toy helicopter has a fuselage I0 which may be conveniently molded from any suitable synthetic plastic or other material and which comprises a top shell portion Ina and a bottom shell portion lilb. Wheel-suspension brackets H may be formed integrally with the bottom shell portion lilb, and bottom shell portion I'Ob may be formed adjacent its rear end with a downwardly projecting, fin-like tail rest l2. A pair of undercarriage wheels I3 are mounted on an axle l4 between the brackets II.

Top shell portion la is formed medially with respect to the sides thereof and in the regionabove the brackets l I with a housing 15, projecting partially upwardly from the surface of said shell portion and projecting partially downwardly between the side walls thereof, having a bore extending vertically therethrough for the reception of a hollow propeller shaft 16 carrying a propeller I! at the upper end thereof. Aflixed to the lower end of hollow shaft i6 is a rotary element [8 which may take the form of a bevel may take the form of a bevel gear or which may alternatively have on its upper surface an annular V-shaped groove 2Ia, presenting knurled engagement surfaces 2 lb in a manner similar to that described for rotary element l8.

A vertical rotary element 22 mounted at one end of a horizontal shaft 23 is interposed between rotary elements l8 and 2| and is preferably in the form of a bevel wheel presenting oppositely inclined knurled engagement surfaces 22a in abutment against the respective knurled engagement surfaces IBD and 21b of the opposed V-shaped grooves I8a and Ma in horizontal rotary elements l8 and 2|. Horizontal propeller shaft 23 is supported by a slotted holding fork 24 or other means extending downwardly from an integral with top shell portion Illa. Propeller shaft 23 extends rearwardly between top shell portion Illa and bottom shell portion lob and for a short distance beyond the tail of the fuselage at which point it carries a vertically rotatable propeller 25. In this connection it is to be noted that tail rest l2 should be of sufficient height to clear the blades of propeller 25 off the ground line in order to permit free rotation thereof.

Rotary element 2| has on its bottom surface a A coaxial propeller shaft V-sha'ped groove 2|c similar to groove 2| a in its upper surface and also presenting knurled engagement surfaces 2ld for a purpose to be hereinafter described.

A beveled driver element 26 is secured at a proper point along undercarriage axle l4 parallel to wheels l3 and presenting knurled surfaces 26a engageable against knurled surfaces 21d of groove 210 in the underside of rotary element 2|. Driver element 26 is permanently fixed to axle [4 in any desired manner and rotates simultaneously with the rotation of said axle and the wheels l8, its engagement with the groove 2 I of rotary element 2| being efiected by a suitably disposed slot or opening 21 in bottom shell portion lOb.

In actual operation, as the toy airplane is moved manually forwardly along the ground, undercarriage wheels l3 and driver element 26 are caused to rotate in a counterclockwise direction (in the direction of arrow of Fig. l). The rotation of driver element 26 in' a counterclockwise direction in turn causes the rotation of rotary element 2| directly engaged therewith and the simultaneous rotation of upper horizontal propeller 26, in a counterclockwise direction as seen from below, the direction of rotation of propeller 20' being illustrated in Fig. 1 by an associated arrow. The counterclockwise rotation of rotary element 2| is accompanied by, counterclockwise rotation (viewed from the-front of the airplane) of vertical rotary element 22 interposed between horizontal rotary elements 2| and [8' and thus causes counterclockwise rotation (again viewed from the front of the airplane) of vertically rotatable propeller 25 attached to element 22 through shaft 23. In turn the counterclockwise rotation of vertical element 22 is accompanied by the clockwise rotation (as seen from below) of upper rotary element [8 directly engaged therewith and the simultaneous rotation of lower propeller I! in the same direction (clockwise as seen from below). It is thus seen that by pushing the toy airplane forwardly along the ground the horizontal propellers I! and 28' are made to rotate in parallel planes inopposite directions along with simultaneous rotation of the vertically rotatable propeller 25'. Obviously, pushing the airplane rearwardly along the ground would reverse the direction of rotation of the propellers.

It should be noted that the vertically rotatable propeller 25 might be located at the front of the plane instead of at the rear as illustrated in the drawings or might be omitted and that also the horizontal rotary elements I8 and 2|, the interposed vertical rotary element 22 and driver element 26 might vary in structure from the particular embodiment illustrated, one such possible modification taking the form of bevel gears, as has been mentioned hereinabove.

made in the toy airplane of my invention without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawing be interpreted merely as illustrative and not in a limitin sense.

I claim:

A toy airplane which has a hollow body which is provided with an upstanding bearing, a hollow upstanding shaft located in said bearing and. extending above said" body, an inner upstanding shaft extending through and above said hollow shaft, said shafts having respective superposed propellers above's'aid body, a hollow-shaft rotor fixed to said hollow shaft below said bearing, said hollow-shaft rotor having a bore, said inner shaft extending through and below said bore, an innershaft rotor fixed to said inner shaft'below said hollow-shaft rotor; said body having a wheelshaft turnably connected thereto at its bottom, wheels fixed to said wheelshaft, said wheel-shaft having a wheel-shaft driving rotor which extends upwardly into said hollow body, said inner-shaft rotor abutting said wheel-shaft rotor, a longitudinal propeller shaft which extends longitudinally through said body and which has a propeller fixed thereto externally of said body, an intermediate rotor fixed to said longitudinal propeller shaft and abutting the underside of said hollow-shaft rotor and the upper side of'said' inner-shaft rotor, said intermediate rotor being spaced from the common axis of said hollow shaft and said inner shaft, all said rotors being located in said hollow body, said wheel-shaft rotor being a support for said other rotors.

EDMUND W. BAGGOTT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references'are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date I 1,120,470 Fox Dec; 8, 1914 1,852,929 Hojnowski Apr. 5, 1932. 1,895,871 Vlahov Jan. 31, 1933 2,408,275 Shaefier Sept. 24, 1946. 2,411,596 Shapiro et al. Nov. 26, 1946' 

